Button-making machine



No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. A. OTIS. BUTTON MAKING MACHINE.

No. 409,225. Patented Aug. 20, 1889..

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(No Model.) 1 2 Sheets-Sheet- 2. P. A. OTIS. BUTTON MAKING MACHINE.

No. 409,225. Patented Aug. 20, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP A. OTIS, OF LEEDS, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 409,225, dated August20, 1889.

Application filed March 17, 1887- Serial No. 231,343. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP A. 0171s, of Leeds, in the county ofHampshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Button-Makin g Machines, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in theart can make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a machine for cutting andforming buttons out of pieces of vegetable ivory, the machine beingprovided with a set of roughing-cutters and a set of finishing-cutters,so that the result of the operation of the machine is a button of betterfinish, with less wear of tools, than has been obtained in priormachines in the art.

My invention consists in the combination of the revolving head with theblank-holding jaws and the reciprocating cutter-carriages, bearing,respectively, the roughing and finishing cutters.

It further consists in the combination of the reciprocating head, theblank-holding jaws, and the jaw'opening device; and it further consistsin details of the machine and its several parts, and in theircombination, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed outin the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top view of amachine constructed in accordance with my improvements. Fig. 2 .is aview of the machine in vertical central section. Fig. 3 is a detail viewof the stepby-step mechanism. Fig. at is a detail view of the lockingmechanism. Fig. 5 is a detail top View of the revolving head or faceplate that bears the blank-holding jaws and showing the cam for openingthe jaws. Fig. 6 is a side view of the same with parts broken away toshow construction. Fig. 7 is a detailview in plan and section of abutton partly formed on the blank. Fig. 8 is a detail edge view of thebutton cut from the blank.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter (4 denotes the bed of themachine as a whole; I), the standards; 0, the driving-shaft, supportedin suitablebearings Z) and arranged lengthwise of the bed and beneathit; (I d, the reciprocating cutter-carriagesg c c, the cutter-beds, andff and g g the cutter-spindles. 1

To the shaft 1', that bears the head, is also cured a ratchet j, thatforms a part of the feed mechanism by which the shaft is given anintermittent rotation, and fast to the same shaft 2' is a locking-disk76, having in its periphery indentations 71;, into which the end of thevertically-arranged pawl k is thrust by the agency of the spiral spring7e, arranged about the body of the pawl, the engagements of the pawlbeing determined by the rotations of the cam 75, that is mounted on andturns with the main shaft 0. The ratchet-wheel j is operated by the pawlj, that is connected to the rod that extends from the eccentricstrap j,that encirclesthe eccentricj", that is fast to and turns with the mainshaft 0. By means of this feed mechanism the head h is rotated a certaindistance, so that the blankholding jaws Z are moved into position in theline of the axis of the cutter-spindles and are held fora certain timein that position by means of the locking mechanism.

The function of the jaws Z is to hold a blank, that is preferably a slabcut from a nut of vegetable ivory, while the cutters ff are movedagainst and operate on the opposite faces of a button. The blank-holdingjaws Z are arranged at intervals around the periphery of the head h,with the lever-handle of the movable jaw extending radially inwardtoward the shaft '5, and a spring Z is arranged beneath this inner endof each movable jaw in position to thrust it out, so as to force theouter end of the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw to hold a piece ofstock firmly between them.

The carriages (Z (Z are supported in ways on the top of the frame a, andare moved in and out toward the head 71 by means of the crank pins m mtaking into the slots (Z d in the carriages. Each of these crank-pinsprojects upward from a disk borne on a vertical shaft m m, that isdriven from the main shaft 0 by means of the intermeshing bevel-gears aa.

The cutter-beds e and e are each so secured to the carriages d d as toadmit of lengthwise adjustment by means of the adj Listing-screws 6 6that pass through the nuts fast to the carriage, with the inner end ofthe screw fitting into the threaded socket in the cutter-bed. Thepurpose of this adjustment is to determine with great nicety the extentand degree of the cutting operation of the cutters that are secured inthe cutter-spindle. The outside of each of the nuts has a sort of skinthat is very tough and adheres quite closely to the outer surface of thenut, and it is extremely hard. By the operation of theseroughing-cutters this outer surface is removed and the button brought toits approximate shape or roughed out. The head then makes a partialrevolution until the blank with the button roughed out is in properposition to be operated upon by the finishingcutters, which by theoperation of the machine are advanced a distance toward the head, thecutter g first finishing the one side .of the button and the cutter gthe other side, and also cuttingthe button free from the blank andpushing it through the nut and end of the movable jaw, allowing it todrop from the machine.

The machine is so arranged that while the operation of roughing out thebutton is being carried on anotherbutton is being finished at the sametime. As the head continues its revolution in a stepby-step movement,the jaws strike against a cam 0, that is fast to the frame of themachine in such position that the jaws are opened as they sweep alongthe face of the cam and either allow the waste pieces of stock to fallout or so loosen them from thegrasp of the jaws that the clearer p, thatis fast to the bed in proper position to effect it, pushes the piecesout of the jaws. The jaws are held open by the cam until they have riseninto position. (see Fig. 2) to receive a piece of blank stock that isplaced between them, and then the movable jaw is released from the camand grasps the stock under the pressure of the spring and holds itfirmly by means of the teeth with which one surface of the jaws isprovided.

This machine is preferably fed by hand, as the blank pieces of stock areof such irregularshape that some judgment is required in determining theproper position to obtain the best result in forming the button.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the driving-shaftprovided with gears on its ends and the revolving head havingblank-holding jaws, of the vertical shafts m and m having gears to meshwith the gears 011 the driving-shaft and provided with eccentrics ontheir upper ends, and the reciprocating beds (1, carrying the rotatableshapers .f, all substantially as described.-

2. The combination, with the driving-shaft having the cams and j, andthe revolving head mounted on the shaft of, of a lockingdisk It, mountedon the shaft of the revolving head and provided with indentations It,the vertically arranged and reciprocating pawl 10 connected to the cam kon the driving-shaft and provided with the spiral spring 70 arrangedabout the body of the pawl, the vertically-arranged pawlj connected tothe cam j on the driving-shaft, and the ratchet j on the shaft 2',substantially as and for the purpose specified.

The combination, in a button-makin g machine, of the vertically-arrangedrotatable shafts carrying eccentrics on their upper ends, thereciprocating tables connected to the eccentrics, the adjustable tablescarrying the cutters, and the intermitting rotatable holding-head, allsubstantially as described.

4. The combination, with the rotating head carrying the spring-actuatedclamping-jaws, of the cam 0, to open the said jaws, and the clearer p,to push the pieces from the jaws, all substantially as described.

PHILIP A. OTIS. \Vitnesses:

II. 1). Rover], Cams. 0. PARSONS.

